Hi Everyone, I am still around.

Pushing 39 weeks el-preggo-relli. That is Spanish/Italian for up the duff. Or UTD for short.

In other news. Crazy mumma to be nesting has been in full swing.

See here! I made these 3 things in the same day that I went on a mad cooking brigade and whipped up a whole freezer full of meals!

It is a cushion cover, a door stop and a tissue box cover. Made from James Dunlop arabella fabric.

The door stop is a necessity. The door just seems to swing in the nursery. I filled it with a zip lock bag of expired rice (I don’t cook rice ever, Not sure why, I like it, but it is a bit hard for me LOL) then filled it out with stuffing.

The nursery door had been finished painting and hung by my husband all by himself! I think he got the hint from the last blog post LOL!

The cooking involved:

1 bolagnese sauce

4 lasagne dinners

2 cannelloni dinners

1 roast tomato sauce (made from all the tomatoes in my garden)

That is 2 kilos of tomatoes that we grew all by ourselves!

And a widdle capsicum! I roasted that too, I mean, why not!

Then blitzed it all up and this sauce formed the base for the other meals.

I also made:

96 meat balls divided into 4, 24 ball servings. (12 each)

1 meal of the meat balls in the sauce.

I had ambitions to cook up more, but there is only so much cleaning a husband can do. I already made him clean the kitchen twice!

This is the state it was in both times. There is not a spare inch of counter space or a clean item left in our unrenovated kitchen.

He obliged without the slightest hint of a whinge! That, that there is TRUE LOVE!!

See the fan just out of shot? It is $12 of saviour! I have been MELTING! Melting I tell you. I cannot cool down.

Meanwhile in the garden! Isn’t this pretty?

I love it!

The day before, she was still closed and goblet like. The next day I race out to see here and these little things have already fallen off!! Hmmphh! What gives?

I also cut another flower (this time before it had dropped any) and placed it into a vase and it turned brown so fast!

Don’t magnolias make good cut flowers??

Sometime last week (well week before now), my nursery change table was featured on Ikea Hackers. I forgot to state the obvious about removing the aesthetics when it actually comes time to use it for it’s purpose and was semi-slammed in the comments! HEHEHE jealousy.

IKEA – Glamorous girly change table

I also managed to high tail it to Coco Republic for a look-see. A lovely lady spent a bit of her time with me talking about my living room! I didn’t buy anything and she didn’t push me. She was a great help in gaining clarity and direction. It is abundantly clear that I now NEED this fabric!

Alexa Hampton for Kravet

To make 2 throw cushions for my orangey coloured settee.

I honestly thought the settee needed re-upholstering in a more pleasing colour for it to work in my living room. But she proved me wrong! I can see this working.

She told me to save my dough on that. And I am so happy. Because the upholstery on the settee is in PERFECT condition! Sometimes I just wish there was a big hole it in somewhere to force me to re-upholster it! But is perfect luscious velvetiness condition.

How do you even describe this colour? I was trying to describe it to the SA. It is a hard one.

Also at Coco Republic I need to buy this petite chair and foot stool for my baby girls nursery!!!

Too cute! I didn’t dare look at the price tags. It is Oly San Francisco branded. In other words, to me, that means, don’t bother!!

Talking about the nursery. I am NEARLY ready to reveal the nursery!!!

It may be before I give birth, but no promises!

This little room of mine has turned into an obsession!

I sketched this pic today while I was at work.

I’m not the best at perspective drawing. This is the best I could do from my memory.

(LOL the legs of the armchair and chest of drawers are up the wall hahahha)

While I wait for my resources to arrive by post (mainly my lavender wallpaper) I plan and plan and plan!

This room will be the first room in our house that will be completed and it has a deadline and I am working towards it! Putting my all into it.

Next I want to work on my bedroom and front yard. I have plants that are still in pots that need to be planted in the front yard. They are not growing and are just being stifled. They need to go into the ground STAT.

Back to the nursery. I am just kind of in limbo at the moment. I need the goods to arrive, so I can match other things to them and I need them in the flesh!

At least I have made a decision on the curtains and how I am going to make them!

There would be more in that Donna Hay colander if we didn’t keep eating them all up!

We are nearly ready to harvest some of our bigger tomatoes, that is if the birds don’t get to them first.

I am not going to claim creative intelligence over this. I saw something similar on pinterest and was inspired.

I own a hell-a-va lot of tulle.

Remember I made 3 veils for my wedding. (Plus another for the hens night)

Well, I have plenty left over in the craft cupboard,

Do you have a craft cupboard? No? Well you should!

The magnolia leaves & sprig of rosemary are from my garden.

Here is some tags and ornaments I made.

There are plenty of tutorials out there.

I used FIMO white oven-bake clay.

That is some more left over lace from making veils. (Oh I love veils!!) I am sad that my veil wearing days are over. 1 day out of a whole life time hardly seems fair.

This is gorgeous french Chantilly lace.

I went a bit nordic with this wrapping.

Love it!

I can’t just subscribe to one theme. It is one of my weaknesses. I love a bit of this, a bit of that.

It really isn’t a good thing and I constantly working on my strength. I end up with a lot of miss-matched things.

BUT!

When it comes to the jolly o’ Christmas time! There are no rules!!!

I utilized one of my clay tags in this wrapping, as well as my Cupid’s Bow labels.

Did anyone take my advice on using a Kinder choccie to attach to a present?

It just adds exactly what this present needs. It is after all a gift card (Shhh no one tell anyone)

I think out of all my wrapped present. This is my favourite.

I’m immature. I just love that it is so tiny and the tag is so big!

And with all that said.

I AM DONE!!!!!!!

I have no more wrapping to do. No more shopping to do!

I will be working from this Saturday right through to Boxing day, so I knew all along I had to be organised. Hopefully in there we have some early days so we can see friends and family!

Husband was watering the garden in the evening and yelled out to me to grab the macro lens!

This is what he snapped. A cute little lady bug on my Calla Lilies.

(Click image to make it bigger)

Hello everyone. These days are just flying by. ARGHHHH

I have hit the halfway mark and I am 20 weeks pregnant.

Too exciting.

I had my morphology scan on Tuesday.

Yes, I found out the sex of the of the baby, that was our wish all along! I just don’t know how to announce it.

Gee, people are funny about the sex of the baby. Judgement either way. Whether you want a surprise or find out. People can just be plain RUDE!!!!!!

Another note on the scan, everything appears well and baby is growing. I am starting to feel movement and it is toooooo exciting.

I had a VERY productive week last week!

Monday, I was at work. Tuesday I had to the scan and then lunched with my mum, sister and aunty!

Wednesday I received 2 quotes for a wrought iron screen door. Then went out to Spotlight.

Thursday I drove all the way to North Seaforth to purchased curtain fabric after getting overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time in Spotlight

Then drove all the way down to Caringbah to pay the deposit for the screen door we have chosen. (Joint Christmas present for myself and hubby. We are true romantics)

Then I visited the homemaker centre looking for an armchair for the nursery. I visited all the big names, like Harvey Norman, Domayne, Freedom etc.

I left pissed off, like every time I visit.

Although knowing full well I had a lucky charm in my back pocket! An invite to the Coco Republic warehouse sale!!!!!!!!

It started on Friday. I pulled up to Auburn and the car park was chockers with luxury European 4WD’s of the black/navy/silver variety.

Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore!

It was utter mayhem! So many people putting “HOLD” stickers on items. No, not “SOLD” but hold. ERRRRR get lost.

Plenty was already sold and when I left at 11am, there wasn’t really much left.

I managed to nab an item I have been coveting.

For the nursery, I wanted a wing back chair. That was mentioned in this post

And that is what I did indeed receive!!!!

I spotted the chair from afar, ran to it, sat in it, examined it and I DID NOT MOVE FROM THE CHAIR until I could usher over a sales assistant.

(honestly, someone would have stolen it from under me)

This is the chair from the website

The plushest, luxurious-est, yummiest, cushion of a cloud chair!

The angels came out and sung “hallelujah”

My one has different wood stain and upholstery. Was $2400, I got mine for $800!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my chair, in the nursery.

Can’t wait to whip up not 1 but 2 cushions for this chair, to add the required splash of colour the nursery needs, because it is a BEIGE HAZE!

I also purchased this shell frame. I love natural items!

Was $443 down to $150! Honestly, that is $150 worth of framing.

I don’t think I will put this in the nursery, working towards a gallery wall in the hallway to go with these frames (still not hung)

The husband has been super busy this weekend painting our new front door!

Then after the Coco Republic sale on Friday, I went to spotlight AGAIN. (I think I live there)

I picked the brain of a person working there about curtains, she sold me what I needed and then I went home to take a stab at sewing curtains.

I got myself on a roll and I FINISHED making the curtain!

Just need the husband to install the curtain rod and then I can hang the curtains to hem them.

Too happy!

Next up is my garden!

Merlot Calla Lilies

Pink Calla Lilies

TOMATOES!!!!

The white is vegetable dust

Until next time, too da loo!

Well, we finally got some doors hung in our house.

This is NO LONGER!!!

No longer will there be a beach towel weakly guarding the threshold of our sanctuary.

A while back, I purchased a 2nd hand door for our bedroom, as you can see the door was missing.

I had to hunt through all of this to find the best I could size wise

When we purchased the house, the door was there, but it was a sliding door. We also have a sliding door in our apartment.

FFS, who wants a sliding door for their bedroom?? NO ONE. That’s who. If you are in a relationship and live together, you need to be able to SLAM THE DAMN DOOR when you are mid fight!

So, the sliding door was promptly removed and beach towel hung.

Then a door jam was added. When purchasing the door, I didn’t take into consideration that the door jam as well. The door then got trimmed down a bit.

We are going to add some moulding around the new door jam. As you can see the frame of the door is now of centre, we will add some strips of wood to re-centre it before we paint it.

My, my, that is one filthy door.

BUT At least I now have a bedroom door! Boy have I been sleeping like a baby since it was hung.

This is from the inside of our bedroom.

Need to paint the door jam white and paint the door.

I want to do black doors with brass handles. Husband is a little sceptical. He thinks we should do black on the outside (i.e if you were walking down the hallway and the all the doors were closed you would see black doors and when you are inside the room and the door is close it would be white)

And if that is the case, should I paint the back of the front door black as well?

I would love you feedback.

This is the nursery door! (Bedroom 2)

I just love the brass handles I chose.

Here is Bedroom 2 and Bathroom 1 from the hallway. Old handles, new handles.

This too, is no longer!

Hmmm what to paint it, what to paint it. That aqua colour is primer. Needs to go with the red bricks. Can’t wait to get the bricks re-tuck pointed.

The reverse

Close up of the stained glass/lead light.

So, we need to choose a colour that compliments the cool tones of the glass and the very warm tones of the red bricks.

Tricky one

But I thinking of going with the bottom left. Dulux Tuft.

And the overall exterior colour scheme, White, Tuft and one of those 4 Dulux blues.

There is so much little painting jobs here and there for my husband to do!!!

Well it is nearly the end of my Anemones. Sad face!

But they were just STELLAR! Weren’t they??? Just blew my socks off.

Here is the last flower arrangement I could muster.

I hate to be negative and draw attention to something when the image is so pretty, but I hate the little drops of condensation on the inside of the vase.

Ruining it!

Not quite.

My rananuculus (gosh that is one hard word to spell & spell check doesn’t recognise it, so it’s not one of the words that you can just have stab at spelling and then see if you got it right, if not, select the correct spelling from the drop down menu)

Anywhoooooo

They are flowering. But I am pissed at them. The packet said WHITE and had an image, What I have indeed got is NOT that. I have 2 different types of pinks and 2 different types of whites. Hmmmpphhh!!!

I have planted some summer flowering bulbs. I didn’t even know these existed! (as in summer bulbs) I though it was only plant in Autumn bulbs for Spring flowering! Anyways, learn something new.

I am growing Merlot coloured Calla Lillies!!!

They have already started to shoot

With the 4 days off that my husband and I had, we chose to garden, because it is restorative to the soul.

We purchased 3 of these

To start our long awaited for vege patch!

A garden bed just for potatoes!!! I think they will be coming out of our ears

A capsicum shoot

Tomato shoots

As well as potatoes, capsicums and tomatoes we have planted, green shallots, lettuce & carrots

There is still a lot more I wanted to plant, but we will just start off with these.

My Bay tree has done some serious growing.

This is the next door neighbours citrus trees.

And here is a garden casualty. He even looks like he is cowering.

Poor little dude.

My gorgeous husband bought me a new lens for our DSLR!! We have wanted a prime for a while, but I really wanted to get better at using the camera first, which I have. YAY.

Sheer chance and pure luck, did I manage to snap this pick of a bee!! YAY for Spring nearly arriving!

I am loving my garden so much IT HURTS!

My cymbidium orchid will flower soon!!!! (not really mine, but the previous owner left it here as a gift to us)

Pics taken with my new lens.

I then went inside to take pics of my blinds and this lens was no good at doing that. I had to stand way to far away to get the blind in the shot, which often meant out side the room.

So I switched over to another lens and took these really mediocre shots.

Clearly I didn’t style the bedside table first!

I have found MY BEDSIDE TABLE LAMPS!!

They don’t look too great here. But they are a work of art! Made of hand forged bronze with a silk shade!

By Objet Insolite.

Future nursery/2nd bedroom

It was hard to get the details of the blind in and keep the room light. Still have lots to learn.

Love my bamboo plant! Seen here through the blind

And with my settee, I want to get it re-upholstered in a sky/powder blue with a touch of silver painted on the wooden frame and add cushions made out of this Nina Campbell fabric!

And maybe add some black trim to my romans. Like in this pic

(but since I don’t buy lotto tickets, chances of that happening are slim)

This is our lounge room.

DISGRACEFUL!

It is what you would call clutterrific.

I must keep reminding myself that it really doesn’t take that long to tidy up and I must do it OFTEN!

It also makes my husband extremely happy. Does anyone else believe in ENERGY?? I can feel it when I re-enter a room that I have just tidied, it hits me like a tonne of bricks. It is all the good energy. (I swear, not a hippy, but this is something I believe in, yet. . . still have a very hard time keeping things tidy)

There are so many things to be done around this room.

My Marimekko magnolia fabric piece needs to be hung on the wall, not just resting on top of the couch.

Some more frames hung on the wall. I need to sand and paint that window. Blinds for the windows will be coming shortly (At least that is done)

Once I work out a mood board for this room, I would most likely like my settee to be reupholsted. Need to buy a coffee table. I think I would love an oval shaped one.

Need to buy light fittings for this room, two in total. I have decided on the ones I would like, just a matter of $$$.

I think I would like to replace the rug to a patterned one in a nice pastel colours.

I didn’t really finish this side. The card board boxes there are the extra Ikea unit to be put together for the tv unit (so there will be 4 not 3 as you see here)

Need to take away the tall brown bookcase and put it in bedroom 2. I don’t like it here (hence why it is practically empty)

The other cardboard box is a large clock we bought. Still yet to be hung!! My husband has a list of things that need hanging as long as his arm. I think I might need to aquatint myself with the drill. (Ahh yeah right)

That mid century danish style armchair is for sale if anyone wants it. It is not my thing. Looked nice in my apartment, but not for this house.

Need to get marble cut for the top of the tv unit. . . one day.

And another recent purchase.

I went back to coco republic to buy a rug for the 2nd bedroom. The gray one I wanted was sold, so I ended up getting this one.

It is 100% wool and was $299. (Originally $499) Very happy.

Absolutely no idea what that silver box thing is on the right. Never seen it before. This is what happens when you marry a die hard nerd.

In other news. My dehumidifier is working a treat. I am in love with it. It takes the bite out of the air, the cold chill that just whips you constantly. Raising the temperature by a few degrees as well. Then we installed the ceiling insulation (so far just above our bedroom and half of the the lounge room and you can tell a difference with that too)

. . .and. . . . just one more flower shot, because I have no self control.

I cut some more stems, because they were ready!

I can’t wait for my white ranunculuses to flower. I planted them at the same time.